Arcane Topics in Economics and Philosophy, Interspersed with Various Distractions

February 01, 2011

Via Instapundit: "Nearly 11 Percent of US Houses Empty." Of course, there are plenty of paying home buyers, or renters, ready to occupy those homes, if only the immigration authorities would let them in. It's the nativists versus the economy, and the nativists are winning.

Comments

That stat is pretty much completely bogus, taking the number of residential units that stand empty to be the vacancy rate. However, this includes second homes, abandoned farmhouses and so on. The actual vacancy is still elevated compared to normal, but it's less than 3% last I checked.